Case study

In the social and life sciences, a case study is a research method involving an up-close, in-
depth, and detailed examination of a particular case. For example, a case study in medicine
may examine a specific patient a doctor treated, and a case study in business might study a
particular business's strategy. Generally, a case can be nearly any unit of analysis, including
individuals, organizations, events, or actions.

Case studies can be produced by following a formal research method. These case studies are
likely to appear in formal research venues, as journals and professional conferences, rather
than popular works. Case study research can mean single and multiple case studies, can
include quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence, and benefits from the
prior development of theoretical propositions. Case studies may involve both qualitative and
quantitative research methods. Single-subject research provides the statistical framework
for making inferences from quantitative case-study data.[1][2] Another suggestion is that
case study should be defined as a research strategy, an empirical inquiry that investigates a
phenomenon within its real-life context.

The resulting body of 'case study research' has long had a prominent place in many
disciplines and professions, ranging from psychology, anthropology, sociology, and political
science to education, clinical science, social work, and administrative science.[3][1]:5–6[4]

Contents
Different types of case study research methods
Case selection and structure
Marketing analysis
Types of case studies
Case studies in business
History
Related uses
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Different types of case study research methods

In business research, four common case study approaches are distinguished.[5][6] First,
there is the "no theory first" type of case study design, which is closely connected to
Kathleen M. Eisenhardt's methodological work.[5][7] The second type of research design is
about "gaps and holes", following Robert K. Yin's guidelines and making positivist
assumptions.[5][1] A third design deals with a "social construction of reality", represented by
the work of Robert E. Stake.[5][8] Finally, the reason for case study research can also be to
identify "anomalies"; a representative scholar of this approach is Michael Burawoy.[5][9]
Each of these four approaches has its areas of application, but it is important to understand
their unique ontological and epistomological assumptions. There are substantial
methodological differences between these approaches.

Case selection and structure

An average, or typical case, is often not the richest in information. In clarifying lines of
history and causation it is more useful to select subjects that offer an interesting, unusual or
particularly revealing set of circumstances. A case selection that is based on
representativeness will seldom be able to produce these kinds of insights. When selecting a
case for a case study, researchers will therefore use information-oriented sampling, as
opposed to random sampling.[10] Outlier cases (that is, those which are extreme, deviant or
atypical) reveal more information than the potentially representative case, as seen in cases
selected for more qualitative safety scientific analyses of accidents.[11][12] A case may be
chosen because of the inherent interest of the case or the circumstances surrounding it.
Alternatively it may be chosen because of researchers' in-depth local knowledge; where
researchers have this local knowledge they are in a position to "soak and poke" as Richard
Fenno put it,[13] and thereby to offer reasoned lines of explanation based on this rich
knowledge of setting and circumstances.

Three types of cases may thus be distinguished for selection:

1. Key cases
2. Outlier cases
3. Local knowledge cases
Whatever the frame of reference for the choice of the subject of the case study (key, outlier,
local knowledge), there is a distinction to be made between the subject and the object of
the case study. The subject is the "practical, historical unity" through which the theoretical
focus of the study is being viewed.[14] The object is that theoretical focus – the analytical
frame. Thus, for example, if a researcher were interested in US resistance to communist
expansion as a theoretical focus, then the Korean War might be taken to be the subject, the
lens, the case study through which the theoretical focus, the object, could be viewed and
explicated.[15]
Beyond decisions about case selection and the subject and object of the study, decisions
need to be made about purpose, approach and process in the case study. Gary Thomas thus
proposes a typology for the case study wherein purposes are first identified (evaluative or
exploratory), then approaches are delineated (theory-testing, theory-building or
illustrative), then processes are decided upon, with a principal choice being between
whether the study is to be single or multiple, and choices also about whether the study is to
be retrospective, snapshot or diachronic, and whether it is nested, parallel or sequential.[16]

Marketing analysis
Some cases study marketing analysis to ensure a full understanding of the effects on an
organization. In a case where the market of any organization is in jepoardy, the agency will
seek answers and solutions. In order to fulfill this need, the organization must gather
pertinent information. Case studies can be used to establish where the problem originates
by utilizing several research methods. [17] Research methods should be chosen appropriately
to conduct a thorough investigation. The primary methods used include: interviews,
surveys, focus groups, observations and in some cases, field trials.[18] The methods chosen
rely heavily on the amount of capital the organization is able to spend and the kind of data
that is required by the group.

Types of case studies

In public-relations research, three types of case studies are used:[19]

1. Linear,
2. Process-oriented,
3. Grounded.
Under the more generalized category of case study exist several subdivisions, each of which
is custom selected for use depending upon the goals of the investigator. These types of case
study include the following:

◾ Illustrative case studies. These are primarily descriptive studies. They typically utilize
one or two instances of an event to show the existing situation. Illustrative case studies
serve primarily to make the unfamiliar familiar and to give readers a common language
about the topic in question.
◾ Exploratory (or pilot) case studies. These are condensed case studies performed
before implementing a large scale investigation. Their basic function is to help identify
questions and select types of measurement prior to the main investigation. The primary
pitfall of this type of study is that initial findings may seem convincing enough to be
released prematurely as conclusions.
◾ Cumulative case studies. These serve to aggregate information from several sites
collected at different times. The idea behind these studies is that the collection of past
studies will allow for greater generalization without additional cost or time being
expended on new, possibly repetitive studies.
◾ Critical instance case studies. These examine one or more sites either for the
purpose of examining a situation of unique interest with little to no interest in
generalization, or to call into question a highly generalized or universal assertion. This
method is useful for answering cause and effect questions.

Case studies in business

At Harvard Law School In 1870, Christopher Langdell departed from the traditional lecture-
and-notes approach to teaching contract law and began using cases pled before courts as the
basis for class discussions.[20] By 1920, this practice had become the dominant pedagogical
approach used by law schools in the United States.[21]

Research in business disciplines is usually based on a positivist epistemology,[22] namely,

that reality is something that is objective and can be discovered and understood by a
scientific examination of empirical evidence. But organizational behavior cannot always be
easily reduced to simple tests that prove something to be true or false. Reality may be an
objective thing, but it is understood and interpreted by people who, in turn, act upon it, and
so critical realism, which addresses the connection between the natural and social worlds, is
a useful basis for analyzing the environment of and events within an organization.[23]

Case studies in management are generally used to interpret strategies or relationships, to

develop sets of "best practices", or to analyze the external influences or the internal
interactions of a firm. With several notable exceptions (e.g., Janis on Groupthink)[24]

History
Frederic Le Play first introduced the case-study method into social science in 1829 as a
handmaiden to statistics in his studies of family budgets.[25]

In all these disciplines, case studies were an occasion for postulating new theories, as in the
grounded-theory work of sociologists Barney Glaser (1930- ) and Anselm Strauss (1916-
1996).[26]

One of the areas in which case studies have been gaining popularity is education and in
particular educational evaluation.[27][28][29]

Comparative case studies, in social science, policy, and education research; discusses one
approach, which encourages researchers to compare horizontally, vertically, and
temporally.[30]

Related uses
Using case studies in research differs from their use in teaching, where they are commonly
called case methods and casebook methods. Teaching case studies have been a highly
popular pedagogical format in many fields ranging from business education to science
education. Harvard Business School has been among the most prominent developers and
users of teaching case studies.[31][32] Business school faculty generally develop case studies
with particular learning objectives in mind. Additional relevant documentation, such as
financial statements, time-lines, and short biographies, often referred to in the case study as
exhibits, and multimedia supplements (such as video-recordings of interviews with the case
subject) often accompany the case studies. Similarly, teaching case studies have become
increasingly popular in science education. The National Center for Case Studies in Teaching
Science has made a growing body of case studies available for classroom use, for university
as well as secondary school coursework.[33][34]

Case studies are commonly used in case competitions and in job interviews for consulting
firms such as McKinsey & Company, CEB Inc. and the Boston Consulting Group, in which
candidates are asked to develop the best solution for a case in an allotted time frame.[35]

See also
◾ Anecdotal evidence
◾ Casebook method
◾ Case method
◾ Case study in psychology
◾ Case competition
◾ Case report
◾ Washington County Closed-Circuit Educational Television Project

References
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621-27770-9.
3. Mills, Albert J.; Durepos, Gabrielle; Wiebe, Elden, eds. (2010). Encyclopedia of Case
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4. Rolls, Geoffrey (2005). Classic Case Studies in Psychology. Abingdon, England: Hodder
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 5. Ridder, Hans-Gerd (October 2017). "The theory contribution of case study research
designs". Business Research. 10 (2): 281–305. doi:10.1007/s40685-017-0045-z (https://
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6. Welch, Catherine; Piekkari, Rebecca; Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella; Paavilainen-
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(https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.692.3967).
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ps://www.worldcat.org/issn/1478-6990).
7. Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. (1991). "Better Stories and Better Constructs: The Case for
Rigor and Comparative Logic". The Academy of Management Review. 16 (3): 620–627.
doi:10.5465/amr.1991.4279496 (https://doi.org/10.5465%2Famr.1991.4279496).
JSTOR 258921 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/258921).
8. Stake, Robert E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?id=ApGdBx76b9kC&pg=PR99). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. pp. 99–
102. ISBN 978-0-8039-5767-1.
9. Burawoy, Michael (2009). The Extended Case Method: Four Countries, Four Decades,
Four Great Transformations, and One Theoretical Tradition (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=xCA7R-o8BMIC). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-
94338-4.
10. Flyvbjerg, Bent (2007). "Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research Inquiry" (h
ttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/286140682). In Seale, Clive; Silverman, David;
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11. Huang, Huayi (2015). Development of New Methods to Support Systemic Incident
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12. Underwood, Peter; Waterson, Patrick; Braithwaite, Graham (2016). " 'Accident
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s://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ssci.2015.08.014).
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0.2307%2F1957081). JSTOR 1957081 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1957081).
14. Wieviorka, M. (July 31, 1992). "Case studies: history or sociology?" (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=vSNp2jtzCbEC&pg=PA10). In Ragin, Charles C.; Becker, Howard Saul
(eds.). What Is a Case?: Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge
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15. Thomas, Gary (2011). How to Do Your Case Study: A Guide for Students and
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gpzAwAAQBAJ). In Heath, Robert L. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Public Relations. SAGE
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20. Kimball, B. A. (2009). The Inception of Modern Professional Education: C. C. Langdell,
1826–1906 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009)
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Analysis of Defective Policy Decisions". Policy Studies Journal. 2 (1): 19–25.
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00117.x).
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s://doi.org/10.2307%2F3707549). JSTOR 3707549 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/370754
9).
26. Barney G. Glaser and Strauss, The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for
qualitative research (New York: Aldine, 1967). ISBN 978-0202302607
27. MacDonald, Barry; Walker, Rob (2006). "Case‐study and the Social Philosophy of
Educational Research". Cambridge Journal of Education. 5 (1): 2–11.
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29. Kushner, S. (2000). Personalizing Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
30. Bartlett, Lesley; Vavrus, Frances (2017). Rethinking Case Study Research. Routledge.
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106 (1): 56–107.
32. Ellet, W. (2007). The Case Study Handbook: How to Read, Write, and Discuss
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MA: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 978-1-422-10158-2.
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35. Mamou, Victor. "Consulting Case Study" (http://management-consulting-formula.com/co
nsulting-case-study/). Management Consulting Formula. Retrieved 2016-06-13.

Further reading
◾ Baskarada, Sasa (October 19, 2014). "Qualitative Case Study Guidelines" (https://nsuw
orks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=tqr). The Qualitative Report.
19 (40): 1–25. SSRN 2559424 (https://ssrn.com/abstract=2559424).
◾ Bartlett, L. and Vavrus, F. (2017). Rethinking Case Study Research. New York:
Routledge.
◾ Baxter, Pamela; Jack, Susan (2008). "Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study
Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers" (http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol1
3/iss4/2). The Qualitative Report. 13 (4): 544–59.
◾ Dul, J. and Hak, T. (2008) Case Study Methodology in Business Research. Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-7506-8196-4.
◾ Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. (1989). "Building Theories from Case Study Research". The
Academy of Management Review. 14 (4): 532–50. doi:10.2307/258557 (https://doi.org/1
0.2307%2F258557). JSTOR 258557 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/258557).
◾ George, Alexander L. and Bennett, Andrew. (2005) Case studies and theory
development in the social sciences. London: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-57222-2
◾ Gerring, John. (2005) Case Study Research. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-67656-4
◾ Klonoski, Robert (2013) The case for case studies: Deriving theory from evidence,
Journal of Business Case Studies 9/3, pp. 261-266. Available at: JBCS (http://search.pro
quest.com/openview/52182cc0653be5c6a49c7d703fa81d55/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl
=2026883)
◾ Kyburz-Graber, Regula (2004). "Does case-study methodology lack rigour? The need for
quality criteria for sound case-study research, as illustrated by a recent case in
secondary and higher education". Environmental Education Research. 10 (1): 53–65.
doi:10.1080/1350462032000173706 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F135046203200017370
6).
◾ Mills, Albert J.; Durepos, Gabrielle; Wiebe, Elden, eds. (2010). Encyclopedia of Case
Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. p. xxxi. ISBN 978-1-4129-
5670-3.
◾ Ragin, Charles C. and Becker, Howard S. Eds. (1992) What is a Case? Exploring the
Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-
42188-8
◾ Scholz, Roland W. and Tietje, Olaf. (2002) Embedded Case Study Methods. Integrating
Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-1946-
5
◾ Straits, Bruce C. and Singleton, Royce A. (2004) Approaches to Social Research (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20080528061240/http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subje
ct/Sociology/TheoryMethods/?view=usa&ci=0195147944), 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-514794-4.
◾ Thomas, Gary (2011). How to Do Your Case Study: A Guide for Students and
Researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
◾ Yin, Robert K. (2013). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=OgyqBAAAQBAJ) (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
ISBN 978-1-4833-2224-7.

External links
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